Balta1701

I find listening to a Mark Kotsay vs. Edwin Jackson at bat to be damaging to my psyche. Kostay grounded to the pitcher.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 03:57 PM) I left that out there just for you to miss the point. So it's ok to add inflammatory statements to your posts that you can't back up just to inflame people. All Republicans are in favor of brutally murdering poor black babies and using their blood to leaven bread.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 03:51 PM) If you drop off the ridiculous part of the statement, it raises a legitimate question. How can you implement emergency policy if the true picture doesn't emerge for years? According to others I've read, failing to predict the true magnitude of sharp economic downturns has been a problem for the Bureau of Economic Analysis before. I'm not sure I have a good answer for this. The answer is probably somewhere within the data and assumptions made by the BEA. We see something similar in the BLS jobs numbers...the Birth/Death approximation is a polled/educated guess about what number of jobs are being created or destroyed in a month that aren't counted in the BLS survey, but it can't predict sharp turns, so it winds up damping out sharpness in the data. You can't ignore those extra jobs because they usually exist, but then you wind up with larger corrections months or years later once you realize the scale of the changes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 03:41 PM) Nice to see that real economic numbers only take three years to produce... Or at least reproduce in favor of the president. You're alleging that the Bureau of Economic analysis here is lying to support the president. Can you produce any evidence to support this seemingly outrageous claim?

Yeah, this is worth sharing, since we hear pretty often in this thread that the stimulus clearly failed since it was supposed to keep unemployment below 8% when it actually shot up to 10%. The latest GDP revisions for the actual months at the end of 2008 are much, much, much worse than the original numbers on which the stimulus was based. Had those numbers been available at the time, then an estimate of $800 billion in stimulus would probably have wound up saying 10-11% unemployment, with much bigger holes if there were no action taken. (PS, link is to the economist)

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) That's one of Kenny's weaknesses. He likes to abuse resources at the DH position. He probably could have gotten Thome for less with that trade. Thome's final year was with the Sox was $14M. (another reason why I hate the DH) Having him sign elsewhere was an ethical decision. It doesn't look good to sign the same player for about $10M less. Due to a handshake agreement with the Phillies, the White Sox likely paid 1/2 that number.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 03:13 PM) Good players often make any manager look good. IF you manage the Yankees and win the Series you are assumed a good manager. Good players are more dependent on your GM. If ARod came out for a season and hit .160 while seemingly being completely healthy, and Granderson fell apart and hit .200 with no power and was dogging it constantly on the field...the Yankees would be changing coaching staff members pretty quick.

Bats in the Cardinals/Brewers game are already exciting. 2 HR for the Brewers off of Jackson, 3 run HR for Furcal.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) That's nonsense. You need to realize that people ARE concerned about the deficits. There's a reason the republicans got so much traction with it. Because the people have been convinced that deficits are what is causing the stagnant economy. They've been convinced of that because both parties have agreed, said so repeatedly and constantly for 6 months, and because virtually no public figure has stood up and said that the deficit is the only thing keeping us from falling back into recession. People are concerned with what directly affects their lives. Right now that's their lack of jobs and the fact that they haven't gotten raises in 11 years because of a lack of wage growth. The public debate has succeeded in blaming this on the deficit. If it is true that the deficit is the problem with jobs right now, then this deal will help immensely, and, for example, will assure Obama's reelection. If I'm right though, and this deal will actually hurt the economic recovery 1937 style, then the President went along with a frame that will hurt his reelection chances, endorsed a bill that will hurt his reelection chances, and taught everyone a lesson that will hurt his reelection chances. At least with the Tax cut deal, I could still sit there and say "It's a bad deal, but it's still a stimulative move." Here, I have to say "This is a bad deal and it's a contractionary move".

Reliant Stadium can hold 71k. So far, 8k have registered for this event.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) So is it worth upgrading to Lion? Took me forever to get into Snow Leopard...I don't use a lot of the advanced functionality of the OSX, just because I am too lazy to learn how. I know it's only $30 or something, but is it worth the trouble? One of my friends who uses Mac's heavily hated it and went back to Snow Leopard within about a week.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 01:35 PM) nerds Yes?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 01:39 PM) If Oney can make a lady upset saying she is ugly, why can't we be nice and rally on the pretty side? Because appearance should have nothing to do with anything here.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 01:03 PM) I don't think he'll make the team unless they carry 6 WR's. They've done it in the past though, so it's certainly possible. As is the practice squad. Especially if they can make use of a guy or two on special teams (they'll need to now that Davis is gone) I'd just assume they'd carry 6.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 12:53 PM) Good comparison with Dye. He was absolutely dreadful in that 2nd half, just as bad as Dunn was. He never get a chance to prove if that was a fluke or if he was done. Dunn will have 3 more years to prove himself, fingers are crossed. He got offered chances, they just were the kind of deal that we'd offer Adam Dunn right now. He didn't want to take that kind of deal.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 12:39 PM) His beloved lefty/lefty righty/righty match ups. Unless it involves Alex Rios or Adam Dunn. Those guys are so good you have to ignore the splits.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 10:01 AM) Britain's a fully-nationalized health care system. That's different than a single-payer insurance system, like Canada. And that's still more specific than a "Universal" system.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 09:57 AM) He never started with universal healthcare. Single-payer was off the table from the very start of the debate. Now wait a second there...there's no requirement that "Universal healthcare" = single payer, british style. Universal healthcare means that everyone has some sort of healthcare coverage. It can be done still using the private sector, Switzerland I believe uses that model. The problem of course is that he said "Universal healthcare" was something no one wanted, which, if true, would mean that we're the most evil society in history.

Yeah, those 10 games after the AS break have been blamed on the thumb.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 12:51 AM) I actually think Spencer will be a modest upgrade over Olin, and that Williams at guard will be solid this year. I really like 3/5 of the offensive line this year though (not a Garza fan either), and think it will be improved. I just have a ton of concern about Garza and especially Webb, which is why I'd give McKinnie a call or 7. I'm glad Tatupu and the Bears have talked, and would hope they also call the Giants about Osi. Garza was, at least IMO, the Bears best O-lineman last year (Tallest midget yes I know). It's also not a coincidence that he returned from being injured when the Bears O-line started to pick up its performance as well.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Aug 2, 2011 -> 10:59 PM) Too bad they wasted his being "locked in" for months in Charlotte. Now that he's in a funk due to the thumb injury they'll probably be bringing him up soon. 1 game = a funk?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 02:21 AM) I hope this winter there isn't this prevailing attitude that Dunn will be great next season. I think the prevailing attitude will be that "If Dunn repeats this season, we're going to get a solid 2013 draft pick."

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 08:39 AM) If that really is the case, the cost-benefit analysis of possibly winning the division VERSUS white-flagging it to get the best possible return for Danks/Floyd/Quentin/Buehrle/Thornton/Pierre/AJ/Ohman/Frasor/Crain/Konerko should have been decided by Reinsdorf. Probably it was. Why? The GM is supposedly like the CEO in this situation right? The owner sets the parameters for how much he's willing to spend/lose, and the GM makes the call on players, managers, etc.?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 2, 2011 -> 10:16 PM) Funny how Sox and Twins might have the bleakest futures in the AL Central. Only if their key guys can't stay healthy.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 09:08 AM) So the 2010 Giants WS doesn't count? No.